HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - City officials hope that building a new Church Street from Monroe Street to Oakwood Avenue will open the area for redevelopment and will offer another convenient route from north Huntsville to downtown.

A major step in those plans took place on Friday in Montgomery when the Alabama Department of Transportation opened bids to build the phase between Pratt and Oakwood avenues.

APAC Mid-South Inc. of Birmingham submitted an apparent low bid of nearly $3.2 million to build the new five-lane street.

It could be several months before work actually begins. The state must verify that APAC's bid meets specifications and draw up a contract for both sides to sign. The contractor also needs time to prepare for the project.

Once started, construction is expected to take more than a year.

The new Church Street between Pratt and Oakwood avenues will follow Orchard Street from Pratt to Pearl Avenue and then shift west and follow Hundley Drive to Oakwood.

The city two years ago bought 40 houses and businesses on Oakwood, Hundley and Orchard and either demolished the buildings or sold them with the requirement that the buyers move them.

The other Church Street phase will be a combination of moving or widening the existing street between Monroe and Pratt. It will include removing a severe curve on Pratt just east of Church, building a new Wheeler Avenue from the new Church to Memorial Parkway and removing Pegram Street. The city's Municipal Justice and Public Safety Center and the Madison County Sheriff's Department offices are both on Wheeler.

A firm construction date for the Monroe to Pratt phase has not been set.

Other DOT bids

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Construction of new Church Street between Pratt and Oakwood avenues moving toward reality

25-05-2012 10:34 A recent fatwa issued by a Wahhabi mufti calls for destruction of all churches in the Arabian Peninsula. He issued the fatwa in late March 2012 in response to a Kuwaiti lawmaker who asked if Kuwait could ban church construction in Kuwait. The fatwa paves the way for adding an article to the new Kuwaiti constitution that forbids building of new churches. Ahl al-Bait assembly condemns the fatwa saying that it is contrary to both Shia and Sunni traditions, and has no precedence in Islamic jurisprudential schools. The assembly also slams the "deadly silence" of Muslim scholars in the face of such fatwa that distort the image of Islam. It also criticizes international human right organizations as well as Western and Christian governments for their support of Saudi regime and Wahhabi doctrine. The chairman of a group of European Catholic Bishops slams the Saudi Mufti by saying that his fatwa "shows no respect for the religious freedom and free co-existence of religions". This week's Islam and Life asks: What is the view of Islam on building Christian churches in Muslim lands? Watch this video on our Website: Follow our Facebook on: Follow our Twitter on:

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What is view of Islam on building Christian churches in Muslim lands?-Islam and Life-05-24-2012 - Video

25-05-2012 12:48 Professional grade personal 2-way radios are now available for church, construction, hospital, manufacturing, retail and school users with prices starting at under $150. This new generation of micro-sized communicators are available in both VHF and UHF versions. One model even offers a long range headset or speaker-microphone option with a range of up to 30 feet away from the radio !

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On-Site Personal 2-Way Radios - Video

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- According to building permits that have been issued from January 2011 through this month from the Jackson County Planning Department, as well as from planners from the surrounding municipalities, there are few church constructions under way.

The newest church building going up in the county is The Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Pascagoula.

Antioch's sanctuary burned to the ground on Aug. 26, 2010. The smoke could be seen for miles around. The fire apparently started in a storage area on the north end of the building.

In November 2011, a groundbreaking for a new sanctuary was held at 1028 Denny Ave., the original site of the church.

Architect Dennis Cowart of Ocean Springs, who designed the new metal building, said the two-story sanctuary will feature stadium seating and be wired for up-to-date technology.

The new construction will include 10 Sunday school classrooms, two fellowship halls, meeting rooms, a board room and a choir rehearsal room.

The new building will cost about $3 million and is being constructed by TCM Construction of Long Beach.

In the city of Ocean Springs, aside from small additions to a few churches, there are no new churches being built.

In the city of Moss Point, a building permit was issued in September 2011 for the construction of Greater First Baptist Church on 6313 Plymouth St.

In the city of Gautier, "there are no churches under construction at this time," said Babs Logan, a planning technician with the city.

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Outlook: Greater Antioch's new church rising in Pascagoula

POSTED: 5:09 pm MDT May 25, 2012 UPDATED: 6:30 pm MDT May 25, 2012 AFTON, Wyo. -- The LDS Church announced the site for its Star Valley Wyoming Temple on Friday.The temple will be east of U.S. Highway 89 on the Haderlie Farm property south of Afton.Our (Latter-day Saint) community members are elated at the prospects of a temple in our valley, said Afton Mayor Loni Hillyard in a news release from the church. I view the temple as an asset and am certain it will have a positive effect on our entire community. We look forward to working with the architect and Church representatives as they move forward on this project.The temple was announced at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conference in October 2011.The church said Friday that temple construction is expected to take two years. When built, the temple will serve church members in western Wyoming. Members now travel to Idaho Falls and Rexburg to attend the temple.We truly believe this new temple will be a great asset not only to members of the Church but also to the people of the surrounding community, who will benefit from the peace and beauty a temple brings, said Jerry Hansen, local spokesman for the church. Temples are where members participate in the highest sacraments of our faith where we make and renew promises to God and to our families.The church has 137 temples, with 29 planned or under construction.LDS leaders haven't supplied details on the building itself yet. Doug Anderson with the LDS Church Media Department told the station earlier this month that he doesn't know if it will be built as a full-size version like the ones in Idaho Falls and Rexburg or on a smaller scale. View the discussion thread.blog comments powered by

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LDS Church Announces Star Valley Temple Site

DAVID HALLETT/Fairfax NZ

LOWERED: Christ Church Cathedral continues to come down despite efforts to stop it being demolished

A poll of 359 Cantabrians found the region torn over the fate of Christ Church Cathedral with a majority favoured demolition.

However, the comments from those polled revealed it was a tussle between our hearts and our heads. The former reflecting our emotional attachment to the iconic heritage building, the latter understanding that repairs for the cathedral would be costly and potentially dangerous.

You can read their comments here:

Reasons from those who think the Christ Church Cathedral should be demolished:

I don't like the idea of a church being the centre of the city. 30 - 59, Male

It seems too far gone. It seems to be a bit of a risk. 18 - 29, Male

I am anti-religion. 18 - 29, Male

The ground is not solid underneath the building, any quake that happens would ruin the building again. 18 - 29, Male

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Christ Church Cathedral - readers' comments

by Dermot Cole/ cole@newsminer.com Fairbanks Daily News Miner

A crew from HC Contractors uncovers the water lines running into Immaculate Conception Church just past the north end of the Cushman Street bridge.

To help protect the church from excessive vibration, electronic monitoring equipment has been set up inside the building that will send an alarm to a structural engineer when the movement reaches 40 percent of the level that a building of that age is able to handle.

Structural engineer Keith Korri, of Anchorage, is keeping close tabs on the building via the equipment that is set up to give him an alert on his mobile phone when the 40 percent level is reached. So far the movement has been below that standard, which he said provides a good margin of safety.

He has also told the church workers to talk to HC Contractors if and when something seems amiss.

Inside the church the first sign that vibration preparations are an issue is the temporary removal of the crucifix from the front of the church.

In addition, the statues of Mary and Joseph have been removed from their elevated perches and placed on the main floor of the church.

Korri has monitored the vibration levels in the church on three previous occasions, going back to the early 1990s.

When the heavy equipment is operating within six feet of a building and right next to a fire hydrant and water pipes, the mechanical arm has to be handled by an operator who knows that every inch counts.

Regarding the vibration inside the church, the industry standard for movement is 0.5 inches per second for a building like ICC, Korri said. The machine he has installed in the crawl space is set to go off when the movement is 0.2 inches per second. He said he wants to solve any problem before it becomes a problem and the 40 percent threshold offers that protection.

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Road work outside historic Fairbanks church requires careful digging

20-05-2012 08:04 The beautyfull La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. The video is taken on a sunny day using Samsung HD videocamera. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War—only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the mid-point in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026—the centennial of Gaudí's death. The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona—over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the recent possibility that an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed train could disturb its stability. Describing Sagrada Familia, art Critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger called it 'the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages'

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La Sagrada Familia (HD) - Barcelona - Video

BRADY TOWNSHIP, CLEARFIELD COUNTY - Salem United Methodist Church decided to build theirnew church further away fromRoute 219than where it sat for over 80 years out of a fear it would be destroyed again.

April 25, 2011 the church came off of its foundation when a log truck skidded of the road and logs slammed into the structure.

After a year of planning, the Church hired Hallstrom Construction to demolish their current church and build new.

They, along with Hallstrom, decided to build further off of the road and Tuesday afternoon they realized what a good decision that was.

"The first thing they said to me was it happened again. A car had veered off of the road and into a utility pole. It is a good thing the church is not where the old one was because the car would have landed in the fifth or sixth pew of the old church" said Chris Satterlee of Hallstrom Construction.

No one, including the 18 year old driver, was hurt in the accident, but it definitely made the workers decide never to park their cars in harms way again.

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A Dangerous Coincidence

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND There was a disagreement among members of the Port Madison Lutheran Church when it came time to start work on their first sanctuary 100 years ago.

Some in the congregation wanted to build it small. Others wanted a larger space. Eventually, proponents of the small church prevailed and staked out the corners of a modestly-sized structure.

But according to island lore, a few congregants sneaked onto the construction site on the night before the groundbreaking and moved the corner stakes out wider. When work began the next day, no one noticed the change and a more spacious church was built.

It was probably for the best.

The congregation grew to fill its new space and remained strong through a century of change.

The health of the church was evident Sunday as Pastor Lori Hoyum welcomed 98 congregants to a special worship service marking the 100-year anniversary of the chapel on Madison Avenue NE.

Also joining the celebration was Bishop John Bradosky, who visited from the newly-established North American Lutheran Church in Ohio. Port Madison Lutheran opted to join NALC earlier this year.

Bradosky said the 100th anniversary of the sanctuary was an impressive milestone for the island church.

"It's another opportunity for the congregation to rejoice," Bradosky said before the service. "Their faithfulness has spread over a century."

Minnie Sorenson O'Brien, the first baby baptized in the sanctuary, wasn't able to attend the service as planned. But congregation members say the 100-year-old Yelm resident remains "a firecracker."

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Bainbridge Island church marks 100 years